All It Took was a Single Drop Of Rain

Ever since I move out East, everything had been great. I finally found a career, my sweetheart had proposed and we adopted a cat. The weather was also predictable. Sunshine and heatwaves in the summer and snow and sleet in the winter and light refreshing showers during the spring and fall left one with a feeling of nostalgia. Those long rainy days I grew up with, unending floods of the good old H2O and splashing in muddy puddles was long behind me. Life was going in the right direction and that direction was up with no signs of slowing down. Nothing lasts forever though and what goes up must come down. A storm was brewing and as the blue skies cleared to grey, few could have predicted what was waiting on the other side of the brilliant flash of white.

As storm clouds brewed over head with claps of thunder and flashes of light threatening to light up the midnight sky, I sat on my porch waiting for the show to begin, I felt a light touch on my shoulder. When I looked up, I saw my fiancé, with a weary look on his face. As a knot tightened in my stomach, I knew what must be done. This was the first storm of the season, and that meant only one thing: Soul Eaters.

Soul Eaters are creatures that exist between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead. They create nests in the homes of their victims, who are none-the-wiser of the darkness that is slowly feasting until nothing is left but a gut wrenching feeling that something ,you can't quite put your finger on, is wrong. Very few words can describe what a Soul Eater looks like and even fewer can describe the feeling of despair they inflict on the poor wretch they prey on, but a certain Madam Rowling came pretty close in a popular book series in the '90s. These ghouls, if one chooses to call them that, are far more devious than how they were portrayed in popular culture. Not only do they suck the souls from their prey, they create the perfect conditions for absolute misery. Ever wonder why, at certain times of the year, it feels like chaos is in full swing? Soul. Eaters. All through out history, Soul Eaters have had their hand in each and every single disaster you can think of. Titanic? Mothman? Name it and you bet a Soul Eater was there standing to attention, reveling in each and every ounce of misery each poor forsaken soul emitted.

For me, the most unfavourable trait of these ill begotten creatures has to be the offering of ones soul for relief. Soul Eaters often make deals with the living. Those in the likes of Christchurch Mosque shooter and the Kenosha Human Hunter emanate a darkness that breeds misery for those that not only fall victim but all those who care about the perpetrator. Soul Eaters proposition these poor souls, often previous meals for the beasts, that in order to end their suffering, they must agree upon strictest of conditions: their soul for others.

I was always interested in the news and the macabre. It wasn't until I went to university, studying Global Phenomenon and Archaeology, that I noticed the correlation of severe weather and violence on a regional basis. For my thesis, I theorized a mass murderer in Myanmar began his spree of death after the first rain of the Monsoon season and compared it to a suicide bomber as a severe drought swept across the Middle East. While both of these events seemed completely unconnected, if one looks close enough at the aftermath, a distinct darkness had fallen over the the vicinity of each incident. While subtle, it was not invisible. I became obsessed with this darkness. It consumed every moment I had to spare. Eventually I found some books on ancient creatures who could cross between realms on certain conditions. As I delved deeper and deeper into the supernatural, I finally found a book from 1880, a book that gave me name for the darkness: Soul Eaters.

The Darkness that had plagued me since a child finally had a name and my interest was piqued. I needed to know how they crossed between realms and how to stop them before carnage broke out. I used my skills from my university days to work my way into archaeological dig sites and libraries not open to the general public. It wasn't until I visited a newly discovered tomb in the valley of Kings in Egypt that I finally found the answer to my questions. In the lowly outer chamber of a king long forgotten beneath the scorching sands, the sarcophagus of a common servant, told the story of a great flood that drowned all crops and swept animals and people alike to their demise. According to the hieroglyphics, after a long drought, the gods opened the heavens with a mighty crash and a crack in the sky, unleashing a deluge of water. While at first the people sang praise for this gift, a darkness suddenly befell the land. This was no ordinary darkness, my guide translated, saying that the closest translation of the Darkness that befell the land could only be described as the dark tint of wearing sunglasses. Everything was a shade darker. This was something I was all to familiar with.

As we read more and more of what befell this land, we also learned about the “Shadow Creatures” that followed those who lost their loved ones and livelihoods in the great floods. Appearing after the lightning split the sky, the shadows began draining them of the will to live. Driving them to commit sins against their fellow man. The hieroglyphs told the story of how the servant observed these people and the creatures who plagued them. Documenting what happened once the desolate souls had lost the will to carry on or were apprehended for their wrong doing. Once the creatures had gotten their fill, they simple observed from a distance and watched as society slowly rebuilt itself or vanished beneath the hopelessness of their despair.

Following this discovery, I began to look into other ancient disasters, the fall of the Roman Empire, the Aztecs, the Mayans, all the way back to the birth of civilisation itself. The Fertile Crescent in the Levant. While separated by time or geography, sometimes both, all had the same common factor: devastating acts of God. Extreme weather followed by untold suffering all culminating in the fall and dispersion of the peoples in the respective society. Yet, while each society had their own name for Soul Eaters and why they appeared, no one had the answer on how to stop them from entering our plane. Knowing my luck, the key to understanding these creatures would be in the Levant. One of the most perilous places on Earth, where life as we know it began. Where violence was born, raised and sent forth to cause destruction and chaos around the Globe.

It took years of planning to finally make it to the cradle from which humanity was raised. Once a land rich with treasure from a simpler time is now a land blown to pieces for its worship of false idols from millennia ago. I mourned for what had been lost and prayed to a god who seemed to have abandoned us. If I didn't find the answer to how the Soul Eaters cross realms here, I never would and that was a fate not worth thinking about. The closer I got to the middens of one of the oldest settlements, the darker it became. I wasn't the only one to notice this time. My group of fellow researchers noticed the darkening landscape despite the sun rising higher into the sky and no clouds to be seen. They began asking question to which I could and did answer. I pulled out the years of notes and books I always carried with me on my expeditions. I explained as best I could. Until I couldn't anymore. Underneath a darkening sky, I revealed my reason for being here, I needed to know how these creatures moved between dimensions. While some believed me, others laughed and decided to divide from our group to do their own research that they came for. Those who knew I was speaking the truth, carried forward with me. Little did I know, that by sharing what information I had with others, I had invited untold horrors into their lives.

As we entered the campsite of the ancient village, a shiver went down my spine. I felt shadows moving everywhere. My peripheral vision full of moving shapes I would never catch. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Something was wrong. Where were the others I was due to meet here? Their tents and gear was here but it looked like had been deserted. This was a protected place. We had made arrangements with the local militia to protect us as long as we handed over anything of value. A small price to pay to be able to study the middens. Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder and brilliant white flash of lightning. Someone behind me screamed. A dark shadow, almost cat like, but bigger with a longer snout, had wrapped itself around Susan. I had never seen one manifest like this, despite the chorus of screams from the others I stared in silence and awe. I finally laid eyes on a Soul Eater.

One by one, my fellow explorers were scooped up like a mouse in the grip of a Boa Constrictor. Their souls drained as if they were juice boxes and discarded with as much disdain as a child with a broken toy. Yet, I stood still, watching, not in terror, but sheer fascination. This immense creature, nought but a mere shadow, had a manifestation in the physical world. More thunder, more lightning, more Soul Eaters. They surrounded me, looked at me as if they knew me, like I knew them. I don't know how long I stood there with them. It could have been an hour, it could have been 8.

When the silence was broken, I realized it was coming from a man. The creatures separated and out he walked as if it was just him and I. He reached out with both hands as if to embrace me but from his fingertips spread a darkness I had never seen or felt. I knew in that moment that it was Death. I wasn't afraid. Death comes for us all in the end, or so they say. The darkness wrapped around me like a warm blanket after a walk in the snow. I knew Death. Death was the saviour of the damned and the suffering. As I settled in to Deaths warm embrace he spoke. He spoke of the past and the future and showed me that the Soul Eaters were his reapers who harvested souls to fill the ever expanding afterlife. I finally understood why I had come to this place. I had found my answer and knew what I must do. He snapped his fingers, and with a crash and a flash of light, the creatures disappeared. As I watched them flock to the crack in the sky like moths to a fire, I knew. Death unwrapped me from his embrace and waited. As I looked around at the discarded remains of those who had started this journey with me, I knew I made the right choice. Their sacrifice meant I would never be alone again.

Years have passed since I met Death and learned that the Soul Eaters move between realms using lightning as it rips through the sky. As I looked into my betrothed's eyes, I saw a glimpse of knowing. It was time to walk hand in hand with Death once again. As the lightning tore open the invisible gates between our home and the Soul Eaters, the heavens opened and with the rain, washed down untold Shadows of Death. It was feeding time. As I stepped into the downpour, all it took was a single drop of rain to wash away all the humanity I had left. Rain had never felt so good.